The teaser trailer for Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus gave no indication about where this particular story takes place in the greater timeline of the franchise, but we do already know that the movie is set sometime between the events of Ridley Scott’s Alien and James Cameron’s Aliens. We know this because Cailee Spaeny revealed that tidbit a few months ago.

But is this a standalone story or can we expect direct connections to the events of those two movies? Alvarez provides some fresh insights in a new chat with IGN this afternoon.

Alvarez explains that while Alien: Romulus will work as a standalone Alien movie for anyone not familiar with the previous films, longtime fans will be getting a richer experience.

And it sounds like he’s not erasing ANY other movies from the continuity.

“The way this movie works is if you haven’t seen any of them, you’ll have a blast,” Alvarez explains to IGN. “But if you have, I’ve been saying you’ll be that person in the theater that won’t shut up, just talking to the person next to you going like, ‘This is from that movie and that’s from this, and [they said] this because of that reason.’”

He adds, “And you’ll pick up on a billion things that connect with the other movies story-wise, technology-wise and character-wise.”

“We went to crazy extents to make sure that things were in canon and we were not contradicting or messing, I would say, any of them,” Alvarez continues. “It’s just something very special when you love certain movies and then a movie comes in and makes nods to them and you feel you’re the only person in the theater who must be getting this reference. That’s what it feels like. It’s really tailor-made for you. That’s my goal for the true fans out there, that they will have the experience they’ve been waiting for.”

Alien: Romulus will be released only in theaters on August 16, 2024.

In the new movie, “While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.”